Stowe School attains the complete picture of driver risk through Licence Bureau’s audit.

Stowe School attains the complete picture of driver risk through Licence Bureau’s audit.

Stowe School

Stowe School was founded in 1923 a boarding school with just 99 boys and is now coeducational, with some 550 boys and 220 girls. Alumni includes Richard Branson, Michael Grade, David Niven and Prince Ranier of Monaco.

The school employs over 250 staff ranging from Teachers, Administrators, and pastoral support workers to ground staff and minibus drivers and including volunteers providing support to ensure the school is well maintain, pupils are cared for and the magnificent grounds are looked after.

Helen Bagby (Head of Support Services) and Rebecca Donaldson (Health and Safety Manager) look after the vehicle and driver management for Stowe ensuring driver compliance is maintained and any areas of risk identified and controls put in place.

Helen comments,

“Early last year we identified a need to ensure all staff who drive on business for Stowe were properly checked and that we understood where any potential risks might be.

Some of our staff and volunteers transport pupils to activities both around the school grounds and offsite. We also have a team of drivers who only drive electric buggies so our risk management solution needed to encompass a wide range of drivers and multiple vehicle types.

We needed to first understand our overall level of risk and that our drivers understood their obligations and that we were discharging our own duty of care responsibilities correctly.”

Working closely with Licence Bureau, Helen and Rebecca started the process by auditing all staff members to This was mainly an electronic process with drivers completing the audit online – backed up by a paper audit, both of which were processed by Licence Bureau. Soon after the audit was complete they set about gaining driver consent and undertaking licence checks. The process was swift and efficient with all the results available immediately on line.

“This gave us the most accurate picture of driver risk we’ve ever had and enabled us to start putting processes in place to identify and mitigate any areas of non-compliance. Licence Bureau provided experience, guidance and recommendations to ensure we gained full compliance with the minimum amount of employee intervention.”

The next phase of the compliance process will be to undertake grey fleet checks and identify any areas of driver training education and policy review which will ensure the school meets its compliance obligations in full and keeps drivers, pupils and staff members safe when undertaking business journeys.

“Licence Bureau’s guidance, experience and range of compliance services has meant this process has gone incredibly smoothly and ensured that driver safety and risk mitigation in this critical area for the school is in safe hands.”

Are you sure that all your drivers have valid driving licences for the correct vehicle category? How often do you check? Regular driver licence checking is crucial for the health of your fleet. https://t.co/r0g35GhlVY @fleetchampions @Brakecharity @CorporateBrake @FORS_online